The Soldier of the Sky (Uranus Awakening)

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

Strange things were happening at Infinity College this year, and they seemed to get weirder with each passing day. People were disappearing left and right and it was starting to scare Alex a little bit. Alex wasn’t a timid person by any means, and even with all the disappearances she was still quite aloof and outwardly unafraid of a possible abduction, but the thought of being kidnapped did spark a little bit of fear in her. But she wasn’t really afraid for herself. She was more afraid for the less strong students in particular, and for some reason Alex couldn’t get the violinist, Rosemary who she had met the other day. Since their chance encounter the other day Alex couldn’t get her out of her mind. It was weird, but the thought of Rosemary being abducted especially didn’t sit well with Alex, and she wouldn’t know what to do if that were to happen.

But other than all the disappearances of people around Infinity College, there was a nasty flu going around and Alex definitely didn’t want to catch that. She was in the midst of her racing season, and she had recently started training for the track season which was going to be starting in the next couple of months. She definitely didn’t have time to get sick.

But the weirdest (and less pressing) thing of all was the fact that Alex’s track coach had asked her to stay after practice that day for additional help on her form and to work on her race times. When she was asked to stay, Alex instantly became more pissed. Why should she have to stay late? Her times were fine and her form was phenomenal. But she wasn’t about to argue with her coach. That would only make things ten times worse.

The rest of the track team left, and the androgynous Alex stood there in her sweat pants and t-shirt as a cold breeze blew through and chilled Alex’s arms. The coach sneezed loudly before blowing his whistle and calling Alex over to him. Alex picked up a light jog and stood before her coach and stared at him blankly. He announced that she needed to do a warm up lap around the track. Alex rolled her ice blue eyes and took off jogging around the track. This was absolutely the worst day ever.

[YOUMA]

Coach Satou had always had a reputation around Infinity College for being a bit of a stickler with his track team. Regardless of how impressive a runner was, there was always room to improve in his mind. He had no qualms against holding students back after practice to take twenty extra laps or telling a student exactly how much they needed to improve. Because of this perfectionist attitude, Satou had earned quite the reputation around the college, but his team kept on winning.

However, in the last couple days as he struggled to combat the nasty flu that had been going around, he had been utterly unbearable to all of his runners. If the verbal abuse was bad before, it was nothing compared to his current state. Most people had explained it all off by saying it was just a bad mood, but a select few knew better.

That was the reason he had forced Alex to stay longer, though. Although the air was beginning to carry a winter chill with it, Satou was sweating through his clothes. Something was happening and he could feel it, but the situation was already out of his hands as his consciousness began to fade into nothing. His last conscious thought was 'Goddammit Alex, pull those elbows in tighter to your body,' before the human that was Aki Satou no longer existed.

His body began to change shape, growing different muscles and bones shifting painfully to restructure the form into a shape that could be deemed grotesque by an standard. The track suit had been ripped away, leaving only shreds of the material and revealing a body resembling that of a cross between a komodo dragon and a human. A long tail flicked out from behind the youma, maintaining the creature's balance as it stayed standing on two legs. Long, sharp teeth jutted out over the lower jaw and a forked tongue slithered out from inside the monstrosity's mouth. It took a couple unsteady steps towards Alex, craving the taste of human flesh. Drips of a yellowish green saliva fell from the youma's mouth and burned the grass below it as it touched the greenery.

A low growl began in the creature's throat, growing in volume as it got closer to Alex, culminating in a loud roar. The forked tongue flicked out between the teeth again, eyeing the young athlete's body, before deciding that the morsel would satisfy its hunger.

"You'll do," it slithered as it spat its acidic saliva at Alex.

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

It started out as a relatively simple jog. Alex went around the track once at a constant pace. Alex rounded the last corner and started to slow down once she got closer to her coach, but he signaled her to take another lap and motioned that she pull her arms in closer to her body. Alex rolled her eyes, pulled her arms in and started taking another lap.

But little did she know that behind her Coach Satou had been taken over by the Youma and had been morphed into an amphibian-like monster that was out for her flesh. Alex was lost in her angry thoughts and didn’t hear the monster approaching behind her. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as she jogged. When she reopened her eyes however, a translucent vision of a short haired blonde appeared before her. Slamming to a stop, Alex’s eyes widened as she realized that the vision was of herself. In a dress. She blinked a few times, but when the vision didn’t go away she freaked. Surely she had gone mad.
”Alex, you know you have always been strong. You have boldly looked fear in the face and laughed. You have been reincarnated to modern day Tokyo to live a normal life. You may not have noticed, but that is no longer possible. I am you from a past life. I am Princess Uranus.” the vision spoke.

Alex blinked again and realized that time had seemingly stopped around her. ”…What?” she asked, even though she somehow knew that this vision would not fully explain anything to her.

”I know you’re hesitant, but trust me. Your memories will come back, but not all at once. I can tell you some things though. You are a soldier; a senshi. It is your duty to eliminate any threat that comes to Earth. Your coach’s body has been taken over by Earth’s current threat and it is now your job to eliminate the threat. With this.”

A scepter appeared in Alex’s hand. It was shaded in gold and had the Greek symbol for Uranus emblazoned on the top. ”Take this scepter and yell ‘Uranus Planet Power Make-Up!’ Once that happens you will transform into Sailor Uranus, Soldier of the Skies and from there you will know what to do to eliminate your current foe.”

With that the vision dissipated and time seemed to return to normal. Alex blinked a couple times before she realized that her former coach was approaching her with heavy footsteps. She turned around and her eyes widened at the lizard man her coach had morphed into and yelped as she jumped away from his acidic spit. ”What the fuck…” mumbled under her breath. Looking down at the scepter in her hand she shook her head. This was happening way too fast, and she didn’t fully understand what was happening. But could she afford to not listen to the vision of her past self that told her how to eliminate the monster? Probably not.

Raising her scepter high above her head she exclaimed the magic passphrase. ”Uranus Planet Power Make-Up!” Once the words escaped her mouth she felt a warm sensation fall over her body like a wave. She felt her outfit change and a new sensation of power running through her veins. Once it stopped she looked down at herself and rolled her eyes. ”I would have to wear a skirt…” she mumbled to herself.

Snapping back to the situation at hand she gripped her hands into fists and glared at her former coach. ”You have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy this…” she stated threateningly. But how the hell was she supposed to activate her new abilities?

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

Ever since her awakening, Rosemary had been keeping tabs on virtually everyone who fell ill with the supernatural disease. Quite a few of them had already changed and it had fallen upon her duty to neutralize the threat. It made her sick to her stomach that she had to kill these people, but there was nothing else to be done on the matter. There had been a couple close encounters and Rosemary had been forced to hide a couple cuts and bruises from her classmate's eyes. After all, she was a lady. What could she be possibly doing that resulted in such wounds? There was no way she would want to deal with those kinds of questions.

By far, though, the worst part of her mission was the loneliness. There was no one to talk to about what was going on unless she wanted to end up in the looney bin and if she was thrown in a nut house, where would the Earth be then? She had been forced into this alone and it wasn't looking like it was getting any better. Her one friend that had been able to really break down Rosemary's defenses had been stolen away by the disease, causing Rosemary to despise her mission and everything about it. However, when it came down to it, she knew she had to continue, regardless of the emotional stress the job created.

One of the individuals that she had been keeping an eye on for the past few days was the track and field coach. Perhaps she had been spending more time than usual watching the practices because of a certain member of the team, but if you asked Rosie, she wouldn't admit it. If there was any one person in the world that she wanted to keep safe and out of harm's way (and especially away from any of this cursed mission), it was Alex, regardless of if Rosie happened to push the other girl away or not. Despite it all, she found herself keeping an eye on Satou from the shadows of the bleachers as the disease progressed and finally reached its climax during the private practice.

Without a second thought, Rosemary immediately shouted out her transformation words and changed into her senshi form. The transformation was beginning to be less odd to her and almost like an old friend, but there was always the thought in the back of her mind telling her that transforming meant that an innocent person would have to die. Shaking that away, she ran out on the field towards Alex. By that time, the youma had already started toward the athlete. Glancing back at Alex, Rosemary saw something that made her throat clench up.

Clenched in Alex's hand was a scepter very similar to Rosemary's, but with different coloring and symbols on it. She stopped dead in her tracks, utterly frozen and wanting to stop Alex from taking the dreaded thing, but it was already too late. Alex had already taken a hold of it and yelled out her transformation, shifting into a form parallel to Rosie's own outfit. "No..." she managed to croak out, although it was barely more than a whisper.

'Get a hold of yourself, Rosemary,' she thought, clenching her own scepter in her hand, 'There are other factors in play here. You need to deal with your mission first. This is no time for emotions.' That was enough to shake her out of it.

"Attack it!" she yelled at Alex, her eyes flashing towards the youma who was ambling unsteadily towards the both of them now, ""Kill it before it kills you! You know the words, trust me, you do! You just have to remember them!" The monster continued to head towards the pair and Rosie snapped to it. She would have to attack this thing while Alex figured it all out.

"Deep Submerge!" she yelled and the power charged words summoned sea water around her, forming a large ball which Rosemary hurled at the youma. It wasn't a direct hit, but it weakened the monster, only causing it to fight harder. It spat acid at Rosemary, forcing her to jump out of the way.

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

Things were happening way too fast and Alex couldn’t fully grasp the current situation. There she was standing before a large Komodo Dragon humanoid that was formerly her rack coach. She had just been informed by a ghostly version of her past self that she was a soldier…a senshi, and after been handed a small scepter she called out the right words and transformed into this…Sailor Uranus. And now she was supposed to kill the monster, but could she do it? She was supposed to know the words, but she couldn’t find them.

Before she could do anything however, someone called out, instructing Sailor Uranus to attack the monster and to kill it before it killed her. Then the woman said that she knew the words, she just had to remember them. Sailor Uranus looked over at who was yelling and was shocked to see another young woman in the same type of outfit as hers. Was this girl a senshi too? Well, she had to be. Not many girls wore skimpy school girl outfits and ran straight ahead into the face of danger.

The monster released more acidic saliva from its mouth and Sailor Uranus dodged out of the way and ended up closer to the mystery woman she would come to find out was Sailor Neptune. ”I don’t understand…” she stated, but Sailor Neptune couldn’t hear her because she had just started to shout words. Uranus looked over and saw the sea water form around Neptune and form into an orb that she launched at the monster. It didn’t kill him, but weakened him enough to be crouched over. The monster looked up and spat more acid out at the Senshi and they both jumped out of the way.

Uranus shook her head. This girl said she knew the words, she just had to find them. Right. That was easy enough. Uranus closed her eyes for a moment and tried to search for the words. She didn’t know them exactly, but she felt a sensation of power running through her and the words just seemed to flow out of her. ”World Shaking!” Sailor Uranus extended her hand high above her head and a swirl of air and bright orange energy formed an orb in her hand. Instinctively Uranus took the orb of energy and slammed it into the ground. The orb of energy ripped through the ground and flew towards the monster and hit him with a large impact.

Uranus didn’t know if the monster was dead or not considering the fact that her orb of energy had caused a cloud of dirt to rise up from the ground. ”Oh my god. Did you see that?! That was awesome!”

[YOUMA]

The Youma knew it wouldn't be getting out of this situation unscathed. But that wouldn't stop it from trying to get its fill for the day. Another Senshi? Simply another snack for it to enjoy.

It was hit though, and the power of the attacked weakened it enough to stop it from immediately lashing out with a much more powerful attack. Acid flung out of its monstrous mouth, but the girls avoided the slime.

It screamed out in frustration. Towering up back to its full height, the Youma was ready to finally end this confrontation. Suddenly, it lunged forward, a screech filling the air, with claws and teeth ready to destroy. But then--

"World Shaking!"

A bright orb of swirling with the brightest color of orange imaginable formed in the air. Unable to react, the Youma could only go along with the last command its body was able to make and continue forward on, right into the path of the Senshi's attack.

It's body crashed into the energy, and it began to burn away, the remains flopping onto the grass.

As quickly as it had all started, it was over for the Youma.

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

Rosemary was momentarily concerned that Alex would not be able to figure out her attack in time. It wasn't like they had a couple minutes to sit down and try to remember portions of their past life until something important came up. This was a life or death situation and the lizard-like creature in front of them had decided that the senshi was its favorite dish. Rosemary needed time to power up again before making another attack since she was still getting used to her newly regained powers.

She was just about to prepare to fight the monster with her own fists when she heard Alex yell out her attack and Rosemary felt a sense of relief. That relief increased when she saw the youma dissipate in front of her eyes. She still felt like a murderer, but it was either kill the youma or die herself and she had to live long enough to rid the world of this pestilence. However, it seemed like it was no longer a lonely mission.

Rosemary glanced over at Alex, still slightly shaky about everything that had just happened. She wanted to yell at Alex for taking the scepter and accepting her destiny, but at the same time, she was absolutely grateful that she had a partner and someone to talk to about it all. However, she wasn't quite sure where to begin.

"You... look great in a skirt."

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

As the dust settled from Alex’s powerful attack, her eyes lit up as she saw that her attack was strong enough to disintegrate the monster, leaving behind only a few pieces of its body. ”Wow! I can’t believe that just happened!” she exclaimed loudly as she inhaled deeply. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, and even though she was just scared shitless a moment ago, this new power felt familiar, and she wanted to feel it some more.

Alex was snapped out of her private victory, by the voice of the other senshi that had shown up at the battle. Did she just hear this…sailor correctly? She looked good in a skirt? Ugh. Alex hated dressing like a girl, and this mini skirt was the only down side she could find to the situation at hand. ”Thanks.” she said simply, and with a wink as her mouth curved into her usual flirtatious smirk. ”But I don’t do this skirt nearly as much justice as you do, hun.”

The smirk stayed on her face, but there were some questions that Alex needed some answers to. The first one was quite obvious. ”Who are you?" she asked, as she arched an eyebrow inquisitively. ”Obviously you’re a … senshi too. But who exactly are you?”

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

Rosemary blushed slightly at the return of the compliment, but maintained her eye contact with Alex. All those inner urges to keep Alex at a distance had disappeared completely when she realized that Alex could possibly be incorporated in her destiny. Rosie felt like she was in unfamiliar territory with wanting to let Alex into her rather barren inner circle which made her feel rather awkward.

"We've met before but I guess I was rather rude. I've been watching you, though. I know that sounds really weird and kind of like a creep, but I wanted to make sure you were okay." Her eyes searched Alex's face for any kind of social cue or hint on how to continue, but there weren't any guide lines as far as she could see.

"Trust me, you're the last person I would have wanted to get caught up in all this. If I could have prevented what happened to your coach, I would have but there's really nothing that I could have done to prevent it. But at the same time... I'm glad it's you and I hope you don't hate me for it." Her fingers traced the hem of her skirt, much like she had done with her violin during their last conversation.

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

Alex furrowed her brow slightly when Sailor Neptune announced that the two had met, and that she had been watching Alex recently. ”Oh, you’ve been watching me, huh?” she asked, the smirk returning to her face. But Alex had to be honest, she really did appreciate that this senshi had been watching her. If she hadn’t, Alex would probably be dead right now. She wouldn’t have had time to find the words that she needed to in order to save herself and the world. ”I don’t think it’s that creepy. You were obviously just doing your job.” she rationalized. ”I would probably be a goner if you hadn’t shown up and helped me…” Alex hated admitting that she needed help, but in a life or death situation she figured this one time would be okay.

But back to the two senshi meeting each other. Neptune seemed familiar, but Alex couldn’t quite place a finger on where she knew the girl from. This was aggravating, but obviously the other senshi wasn’t going to make this easy for her.

Alex’s eyes focused on Neptune’s as she continued talking. Lex nodded slowly and shrugged. ”I don’t think this is your fault at all, so don’t blame yourself.” she said reassuringly. ”As far as I’m concerned this is part of my destiny. It seems weird, but all of this seems so…natural. I mean, I guess it should. It is a part of me. Of us…”

”Oh, and don’t worry about my coach. He was kind of a jerk, and Infinity will hire someone to replace him in no time. It’s really not a big deal.” Actually, it was probably a big deal. Killing people and such. But, that monster wasn’t Alex’s coach anymore, and he needed to die in order to save the world. Alex was also a bit callous at times, so the fact that she had just killed someone didn’t really phase her. It was business, and it was necessary.

Alex was about to openly ask who the girl was, but out of her peripherals she saw Neptune playing with the hem of her skirt. Alex’s eyes followed downward and watched Rosie play with her skirt hem before her eyes traced down Neptune’s long legs and then back up to her face. That nervous tick was familiar. Alex had seen it recently, but she couldn’t place it right away. But after a moment of silent reverie she was immediately brought back to the small garden where she had ran into Rosemary, the shy violinist. Alex blinked slowly before continuing to stare at Neptune’s face. It made sense, and the two actually looked alike. Oh well, it was worth a shot. This was the only guess Alex had.

Rosie…? she asked in a whisper.

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

Rosemary smiled a shy smile when Alex figured out that it was her. It was almost like there was a huge weigh lifted from her shoulders to know that someone out there knew who she was. Not only that, but Alex had been the one person she really wanted to open up to and although it had kind of been forced, the end result was still the same. She had some sort of an ally in this whole senshi deal.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier but, well, you understand. I wanted to say something because, to be honest, I wanted to tell you everything, but I couldn't be telling everyone I meet who I was. But I guess that it's out now. I'm Rosemary but I'm also Sailor Neptune. And I'm kind of hoping you know more about what our ultimate goal is than I do because I really wasn't told anything. All I know is that I was some kind of princess in a past life and I'm reincarnated to who I am now. And I'm not sure if you're a friend or some random person or an enemy but I don't think I really care because I just really want to be around you. I'm drawn to you by something and I'm not sure what it is and now I'm rambling and you're going to just think I'm really weird..." Rosemary glanced around the field to make sure they were alone before releasing her senshi form and returning to her civilian outfit. Although she had just been in a fight, her white ruffled dress didn't have a wrinkle or stain on it, much like her perfectly wavy hair.

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

Rosemary’s smile could melt Alex’s heart. She couldn’t help it, but Rosie’s smile brought one to Alex’s face as well. She felt rather dorky, but at the moment she didn’t care. She felt close to Rosie. The young women were from completely different worlds when they were civilians, but as senshi they were closer. They had the same mission and now Alex felt like the strange bond she felt with Rosie was validated.

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle as Rosemary start rambling nervously, explaining that she had wanted to tell Alex who she was, but obviously couldn’t. She also mentioned that she didn’t know if Alex was a friend or foe, and was hoping to get more answers out of Sailor Uranus.

Alex opened her mouth to speak, but she was caught off guard by Rosie’s sudden shift from being a senshi into being an average college girl. Alex glanced around to see if she saw anyone before releasing her senshi form and becoming Alex. She was a mess in comparison to Rosie who had seemed to shift from one beautiful outfit to the next. Alex shifted from being the beautiful Sailor Uranus to being the grimy Alex O’Neil who was still in her sweaty sweat pants and t-shirt.

”I don’t think I have many answers either. But I’ll tell you what I know.” she stated as she slipped her hands into her pockets.

”My old self came and said that she was Princess Uranus and that it was my job as Sailor Uranus to protect Earth from any threat it comes across. She gave me my scepter and told me to yell Uranus Planet Power Make-Up to transform and the rest would come to me.”

”She said my memory wouldn’t come back to me right away. So maybe we won’t know our ultimate goal until our memory starts to come back to us?” Alex really didn’t know what to think of the situation, but she wasn’t really focused on goals. She just wanted to know when she could become Sailor Uranus again and save the world.

”And from what I can tell, I’m going to say that we’re friends. I mean, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune seem to go together hand in hand, right? And I know this is really weird, but I’ve felt this strange connection to you too. The other day when we met in the garden, something clicked and I just felt…different when I was around you. I felt invincible, but I also felt like I needed to do everything I could to keep you safe.” she said slowly.

”I also thought that you were quite beautiful. Stunning, even.” she said with another wink. The infamous smirk also flashed across her face. Even in her grimy gym clothes, Alex could still find the means to be a complete flirt.

Alex looked down at herself and shook her head slightly at her appearance. "Uh, why don't I go take a shower real quick and we can talk more about this over a cup of coffee? Or we can get our coffee to go and talk in the park or something. If you want. I just need to talk this all out..."

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

Oh good, Alex didn't think she was a complete circus freak. Well that was a step in the right direction, at least. Rosemary's nerves were slightly soothed with the knowledge that Alex would probably still talk to her after all of this. However, judging from how they both got the feeling that they were supposed to be together, she wasn't sure either of them would really have a decision in the matter. Fate seemed to have made up its mind already, but Rosie really didn't have any issue with that. She wasn't sure how much longer she would have lasted if she would have been forced to continue with the mission by herself. Didn't seem like Alex had much issue with it all, though.

"Well thank you," Rosie responded to the compliment accompanied with the wink. She had heard of Alex being quite the flirt, but didn't mind it at all. In fact, she definitely loved the attention but she wouldn't admit it out loud.

"That sounds like an amazing idea, to be honest, but I think I'll be grabbing some tea instead. Caffeine would not help my nerves right about now. I'm still not completely used to this whole fighting monsters thing. It doesn't feel real quite yet," she said while tucking her scepter away in her dress pocket for safe keeping, "Come on, let's go get you showered up. I promise I won't peek." Rosie grinned, finally relaxing enough to tease Alex slightly.

[ALEXANDRIA ELIZABETH O'NEIL]

Alex smiled when Rosie accepted her offer that they go out and get some coffee, or tea, in Rosemary’s case. The two needed to talk about well, everything. Being a senshi, how long had Rosie been a senshi and what she had been doing, what their goal was, and why they felt so connected to each other. Alex was sure that it would all come in time, but right now she just needed someone to talk to. But not just anyone, she wanted to talk to Rosie.

The two started walking towards the building that contained the locker rooms when Rosie announced jokingly that she wouldn’t peek at Alex while she showered. Alex couldn’t help but chuckle at the rather reserved girl as she opened up enough to start teasing Alex. ”Oh, you’re not going to peek? I thought you were going to join me…” she said with a wink as she pulled the door open to the building, allowing the more feminine girl walk in first.

Alex led her down the corridors until they reached the locker room. Again, holding the door open for Rosie first, Alex followed her in and led the young woman to her locker. Alex put in the combination and pulled out her clothes, towel, and necessary toiletries to take a shower. ”I’ll be right back. You can sit here and wait, I guess.” she said motioning to the bench. ”Just yell if you need something.” and with that she went off to take a much needed shower.

Fifteen minutes later Alex emerged from the shower area dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a pair of ankle high boots. On top of the t-shirt was a leather jacket. She returned to her locker and put her dirty gym clothes, towel, and toiletries back into her locker and closed it when she was finished. ”Ready to go?”

[ROSEMARY NERISSA MARINO]

The flirtatious wink that Alex threw Rosie's way seemed like second nature for her. Alex had a reputation for being particularly friendly around school so Rosemary assumed that it was a habit for her. It seemed to fit Alex perfectly, though. She had an almost breezy personality about her that pulled Rosemary in, making her want to know more. Or perhaps it was the strange situation that they now found themselves forced into. Everything had taken a twist towards the weird and somehow it made Rosemary want to be close to someone for once in her life. She needed it or she wasn't sure she'd be able to pull through.

While Alex was in the shower, Rosemary laid down on the locker room bench, trying to sort out everything that had happened. Her heart was still beating a bit faster from the fight and she felt slightly drained since she wasn't fully used to her powers quite yet, but her mind was absolutely racing. There were so many things to put together and it didn't seem like Alex had received many more answers than Rosemary had. They had to eradicate this disease from Tokyo before it was spread further and it seemed as though it was up to her and Alex. Apparently both of them had been princesses from another planet in a previous life, although Rosie wasn't positive what that had to do with anything. They both had mysterious powers and Rosemary was fairly sure they had just begun to tap into all their power. She felt like there was something else that they just hadn't built up to yet.

Rose looked up as Alex emerged from the shower area fully clothed. Regardless of whether Alex was wearing her track clothes or her street clothes, the girl was attractive in her own way. Perhaps it was her confidence. "I'm ready. I was just trying to figure out a couple things about our situation. Do you know any good places around here?"